DREAM Act Reintroduced

Senate Democrats plan to reintroduce the DREAM Act. Just like the previous versions over the past several years, this year’s version will likely authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional nonimmigrant status, an alien who:

(1) entered the United States before his or her 16th birthday and has been present in the United States for at least five years immediately preceding this Act’s enactment;

(2) is a person of good moral character;

(3) is not inadmissible or deportable under specified grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act;

(4) has not participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion;

(5) has not been convicted of certain offenses under federal or state law;

(6) has been admitted to an institution of higher education (IHE) or has earned a high school diploma or general education development certificate in the United States;

(7) has never been under a final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal unless the alien has remained in the United States under color of law after such order’s issuance, or received the order before attaining the age of 16; and